@Michele68
@Pupsmywups
Just brought home an 8 week old Bullmastiff pup. Day 2, our female 14 month golden retriever is still showing dominant signals (standing over the pup, etc), but the pup wouldn't back down. Sometimes he would snap at her, she jumps back, then they're at it again. Today, when they were playing, our golden is laying on the floor chewing on her stuffed animal when the new pup is behind her sniffing her rear end, all of a sudden she stiffens up and then I see a huge puddle of pee underneath her. What is going on? Is she showing submissiveness, marking territory, upon scent of pup's pee (still house training), or simply excited? She had always been a very good girl and never soiled the house since 4 months old.
HI, it could be just all the changes with the new pup. I would try to walk them together as much as you can. I know the pup is young but they need to walk together that helps a lot because the pup won't be so focused on your female. Sometimes the best thing is to let them work it out themselves, she will let the pup know when she has had enough. Be sure though to give her space sometimes, if the pup seems too active for her give her a place where she can have some peace. When I brought my 8 week old Rottie in the mix with my Dane who was 4 was not always happy about having a new pup around and the new guy figured out that he can't be crazy all the time. Obviously if the older dog and the pup are getting to wild stop the play but don't separate them, they need to learn their limits, simply stop the play and make them settle, take a breath. The retriever is still a puppy herself and as time goes by they will figure it all out. Is your female fixed? Please keep us posted and I'd love to see some pics.
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to walk them together soon as I leash train the new pup. I try to let them work it out, they seem to be doing okay, the new pup seems to become a bit more mellow although still snaps sometimes, but I can tell they're just trying to play fight and trying to figure out the pack order. I have two crates at the moment, our golden stays in her old crate, and we bought a new smaller crate for the pup so they both get their private spaces. Our new pup seems very smart and he's catching on to things, I'm sure soon enough he will understand our golden.
I've got a little spray bottle, put some water in it. When play gets too rough, I'll squirt them in the face with a firm NO/STOP.
She was spayed when she was 6 months old. Never had a problem with soiling the house except when she had uncontrollable diarrhea.